Nihility [ Isekai • Dragon Evolution ]

Chapter 17: Caught Again



Gary was walking back to his tent after finishing his shift, he was the camp's only chef and Henry's, the duke's youngest son, personal chef. He did not hate his job, but he didn't like it either. From all the meals he prepared, about half he had to remake with some insignificant changes that depended on Henry's mood for the day, or even the mood during his meal time, as one time he had to remake the same dish about five times, and the last time was the same as the first time he had prepared it.

The job itself, of being a chef, would be easy for him if it were not for Henry in particular and that is mostly thanks to his [Unique] skill he acquired one day, which surprised him by a lot as he didn't think he did anything worthy of having received a [Unique] skill by the System, but he wasn't one to disregard that he received one, so that was that and now he could enjoy his [Unique] skill, and he had to thank it as well, as the only reason Henry couldn't just fire him was because of it. People with [Unique] skills were rare enough the duke wouldn't fire him unless he was actively trying to kill his son.

His [Unique] skill, the one he use for his everyday job, is called [Chef's Nose] and it makes so that every information about the food that is being prepared can be interpreted by smell alone, so he knows a what point the food is as it is prepared, if its lacking in any kind of spice or salt and even detect poisons, as the foul smell of it is easily recognized by Gary. Even if the poison itself is odorless, the skill can detect it and Gary will recognize it.

The skill can do more, it is a [Unique] skill afterall, but Gary does not have the imagination to use it outside of the more obvious effects the skill gives him. This is just one more skill that was born for a person that will not grow it and will return to the System after that person's passing. Such is the natural order since the dawn of civilization.

Thanks to the skill, however, was Gary able to notice the faint smell of one of their meat pieces being cooked in a way he couldn't decipher how. It was not frying, not boiling and certainly not baking. But the cooking method was not the main issue Gary had with this, even though he wanted to know what was being done with the meat, no. The main issue Gary had was that the meat was being prepared at all.

As the camp's only chef, it was his responsibility to guarantee that there would be enough food for the thirty soldiers that accompanied them in this forest, and that means that he needs to keep a tight control on stocks and access to the storage tent where the food is being preserved by ice magic. In other words, someone was breaking the rules and stealing food, and Gary would not accept it, mostly because if their food stocks weren't aligned with the stipulated consumption and without a good reason to, he would be charged for the missing stock.

So, with an angry face, Gary marched to the kitchen tent but saw no one there. Gary then walked to the supplies tent, which was next to the kitchen tent, but again, saw no one. He could still smell the meat being cooked so he knew it wasn't his imagination. To be sure, Gary started to look through the cryochests and, sure enough, found missing supplies. Gary's face closed and he committed himself to find those stolen supplies before anyone else noticed, and to that he would use his skill to his absolute limit.

[ Marcos' POV ]

The airfryer plan didn't go 100% according to plan. Yeah, I had to make it so that the noise and smell of the cooking meat didn't attract people, and that worked. The problem is that it was a rotating air sphere, and do you know what happens when you move air at high speeds near dirt? Basically, everything in the tunnel got covered in dirt, the food, me. The only reason the small hole I made didn't collapse on top of me was because I had cast another earth spell to reinforce the walls, but it didn't help with the loose dirt that got blown away.

So, yeah, the meat and fruits I had stolen were covered in dirt, and I had to eat it that way… Yeah, it wasn't fun in any way and tasted awful, but I ate it anyway, even if I hated myself for it.

Then suddenly a wooden pole crashes the roof of the hole I made, scaring the hell out of me as the spell I had used to reinforce the walls and roof collapsed and the dirt on top of me came crashing down, nearly burrowing me alive.

"An earthclaw weasel?" A surprised voice came from above me. Looking up I saw a person in white clothes with what looked like grease marks on it. Was it the cook? Whoever he was, he had just blown my cover.

I jumped out of the hole and darted towards the exit. I knew that he would alert the guards and that I would be easily caught if I didn't do something about it. Unfortunately, for them, the only thing that came to my mind was the same idea as before, burn the whole place down.

I created and shot several fire bullets, aiming at the tents. I had to decrease the speed and increase the heat, but the fabric started burning with each hit of my bullets.

I dove out of the storage tent and started firing at random directions. I could hear the shouts that were coming from various places where the fire had started to form. I turned a few corners around the tends, not shooting any more bullets, risking them finding me through them, and jumped inside the first box I could find. I needed to get out of the camp, but if I just ran they would see me, so I needed to come up with a plan, a proper plan and not just wing it as I've been doing until now that somehow ended up working. By now the entire camp was awake trying to contain the flames, so I didn't have much time.

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The first thing I thought was using illusion magic, like the wolf they were hunting, but when I tried to use [Spell Planner] to do it, it gave me an error saying that the illusion element was too complex for the basic interface, but I still didn't know how to use the advanced one, so that was a no go. My other thought was to turn back into my true form and use wind magic to fly away, but that was the same as putting a target on my back for that archer to hit me with that deadly arrow of his.

I could just dig my way out…yeah, that could work. I looked outside the box carefully and when I saw there was no one near me, I jumped out and constructed a spell to dig the dirt and jumped on it, then I picked a direction and started digging out the tunnel using a spell to dislocate the dirt in front of me and compact it around the tunnel, so that it didn't collapse on top of me.

I kept digging trying to leave the camp, but as I was creating another segment of the tunnel, the earth around me suddenly shot up, almost crushing me on the top part of the dirt, the only reason it didn't crush me was because the roof wasn't strong enough and gave way as the ground kept pushing me up. I almost suffocated as I was entirely covered by the dirt, but light assaulted my eyes and the moment I was able I pulled a lungful of air and started coughing a little as the sudden change of pressure.

"See? I told you there was something beneath my tent!" A child's voice echoed in my ears, but I still couldn't look at them to understand what exactly was happening, I was too occupied trying to calm my breath. "The sigils weren't confused by the fire as you said, Mavi. I think you need to learn more about the sigils of my father's mage"

"...Yes, sir" A second voice came from next to the first. This one I recognize as being the butler from before, so his name is Mavi.

I managed to look at them, it was a small child with extravagant clothes, the butler form before and another soldier, this one a dog person, with a wooden staff with a brown crystal on top of that, so that is the mage that brought me here.

Looking around, I was inside of a pretty luxurious tent, the cloth of the tent itself was filled with runes, some of them I recognized as being the cold runes I saw on the fantasy freezers, but the majority I didn't know what they were. If I were to guess, given the luxurious nature of the tent and the extravagant clothes the child was wearing, I would guess they were like a HVAC system, and a quick check with [Knowledge Library] confirmed it.

[The Magicweaven Tent is capable of producing a comfortable environment inside of itself by the various ambient controller runes woven on the threat of the fabric itself, making it a very sought after commodity by nobles and merchants]

Yep, it was as I thought. Anyway, the inside of the tent itself was filled with ornate chairs, a big table for at least six people, a bigger bed than what was mine and a lot of random decorations around that screamed "entitled noble" in my face. The fact that he had a butler at his side looking like he wanted to die and slap the kid didn't help my mental image of the kid.

Anyway, I was already in front of them, so I might as well appraise them.

[Human, Lv. 3]

[Human, Lv. 20]

[Human, Lv. 40]

That was the [Appraisal] result from the kid, the butler and the knight, respectively. The knight looked at me confused when I appraised him, then looked at the child and started speaking.

"Lord Henry. I believe this earthclaw weasel has the [Appraisal] skill" The moment he said it, I froze.

Huh? People can feel me appraising them? I thought as I looked at them.

"This animal? With an [Appraisal] skill? What nonsense are you sputtering about?" The child, Henry, said.

"I'm sorry, my lord. But I am certain I felt the [Appraisal] reaction from the earthclaw weasel" the knight said.

Oh boy, this is bad. I don't know how rare [Appraisal] is, it shouldn't be that rare, right? It's not like a [Unique] skill or a legendary one, it's just a [Normal] skill. And it is at least known enough for the reaction to be known, else the knight wouldn't know what I just did.

"...If you trick me, you will not be allowed back in the army. You will be fired. Is that understood?" The child spoke, and the knight only answered with an "Yes, My lord!". "Very well, Then lock him up. We will bring him back with my wolf. I'm sure with both I will surpass my siblings on the succession to the house"

Oh hell no. I will not be anyone's pet! I thought and started to cast an electrical bullet. But before I could shoot them, the knight must have noticed it, because the next thing I knew I was surrounded on all sides with stone walls. My spell hit the stone and dissipated, only a little scorch mark showing where I hit the wall.

They started talking again, but the sound was muffled and I couldn't understand what they were saying.

I would not just lay around while they tried to domesticate me, I was not a pet, I was a former human and currently a dragon, I would not be reduced to a dog. I opened [Spell Planner] and created the same spell I was using with dirt, but this time I selected the stone element, to work with the stone surrounding me. But I was stupid. The knight was 37 levels above me, how would I break his spell easily like that?

The moment I casted the spell, it was like the immovable object met the very stoppable force, and the spell fell apart. I tried again and again, but it didn't work. I tried changing tactics, opening it up with a water jet, like those water cutters that can eat through steel by sheer force of water pressure, but it just made the ground wet.

As I was thinking about what to do, I felt the same feeling like the world around me was holding its breath, the same feeling I got when that explosion happened before. But it didn't make any sense, it was too early for that, it was still night time, and the speed that it came and increased made me feel the same sensation of free-fall, that sensation you can feel inside your stomach.

Just as quick as it came, it vanished. Leaving me staring at a bugged window in front of me that made my stomach drop even more and my heart sink.

[Le⟆⟒oɳařđo: M⟒r⟦cos?]

[Le⟆⟒oɳařđo: Ɐɍe yoᵾ ȶh⟆re?]


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